2 in 1 Domain Name
Posted on August 29, 2007
Filed Under SEO
Choosing a keyword-rich domain name can make a big difference in your rankings.
Your choice of whether to go for a keyword-rich [tag]domain name[/tag] or a branded domain name depends on your goal (purpose) for the website.
If it is a personal blog where you will discuss how you travel around the world, then choose a catchy domain name and establish your name in the blogosphere.
But if you are building a niche website for AdSense, Chitika or affiliated marketing, then you may want to choose a keyword-rich domain name.
Many directories, including DMOZ and Yahoo, will link back to your website with the keywords found in your URL unless your URL is a shortened version or a company name such as tlc.com.
Links with your preferred keyword in the anchor text are the key to ranking high in search engines, especially if they point to you from trusted domains like DMOZ and Yahoo Directory.
Where most people go wrong is that they choose keywords that are too long such as www.weight-loss-dieting-tips-resource.com or something like that.
I would never go beyond 3 keywords and if possible, not use dashes. As dashes so obviously show that you are after the keyword, some established websites may not want to link to you.
But 3 word keyword limits you to only one 3 word or one 2 word keywords, right?
Example: “tennis instruction videos” is a 3 word keyword where you are interested in “tennis instruction” (a 2 word keyword) and “tennis instruction videos” (a 3 word keyword).
You are not really after the “instruction videos” keyword since it’s too broad and could mean golf, skiing or other types of instruction videos.
But if you choose your [tag]keywords[/tag] smartly, you can find a 2 in 1 combo.
Here is an example that I used for my tennis site:
I wanted to rank high for the keyword “tennis tips” so I researched the keywords to see if any 2-keyword phrases ended with tennis and were relevant to my topic.
In fact, “mental tennis” was one of them.
So my three keyword phrase became “mental tennis tips”!
If I now get links pointing to my website with this keyword, I will rank high for the keywords:
Tennis tips
Mental tennis
Mental tennis tips
With the 2 in 1 combo you can gain links for two or 3 different keywords with only a 3 word anchor text linking back, which looks very natural.
Note that I didn’t know this when I was building my first website, but I later gained more links pointing to my homepage with the “mental tennis tips” anchor text included in the keywords in the title and on the page, and that I eventually started to rank in top 10 in Google for those 3 keywords.
Try those searches on Google and look for TennisMindGame.com!
[tags]link building[/tags]
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2 Responses to “2 in 1 Domain Name”
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Hi Tomaz,
I’m kind of confused about what to name my domain.
I want to write about (1920s fashion) and the (Jazz age). both have high demand and low supply
So I thought I would use:
1920sfashionandJazzAge.com
Or:
1920s-fashion-and-Jazz-Age.com
But you say not to use more than 3 words and no dashes.
So would that make it impossible to use both of these niches in the domain name, or would that make it too long, and maybe confusing to the search engines?
Thanks so much Tomaz
Patty
Hi Patty,
First of all, you don’t confuse search engines with your domain name – no matter what it is. It can say dfgjhwuierfw.com and if you write about jazz (use those keywords in title, headline and all over your site), the site will rank well for jazz.
The keywords in domain name do help in ranking for that exact keyword search. You can use both keywords but I think you think too much about search engines and not enough about people.
People will remember a short catchy name and not the one with 4 dashes in it. I personally would focus on one single keyword in the domain name and use others in title and incoming links (in the link text) to help me rank better for those too.